


Poppies and Mahonia

by nickelkeep



Series: Nickelkeep's SPN Femslash Feb 2019 [18]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2019, Girls Kissing, Light Angst, Light-Hearted, Supernatural Femslash February, Teaching, Wizard of Oz References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 11:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17848877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickelkeep/pseuds/nickelkeep
Summary: More Tales from Charlie and Dorothy's time in Oz. Dorothy finds Charlie's curiosity adorable and explains how some of things work in Oz.





	Poppies and Mahonia

**Author's Note:**

> For the 2019 SPN Femslash February.
> 
> Day 18: Free Day
> 
> As always, constructive critiques are welcome and helpful.
> 
> You can find me on [Tumblr](https://nickelkeep.tumblr.com/) and [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/nickelkeep)

There were small moments when Dorothy felt guilty for asking Charlie to come with her to Oz. Not that she wasn’t thankful for the fiery red head, but because Dorothy could tell the times when Charlie missed her brothers. Keeping her away from Sam and Dean, she felt like she going to end up ruining her redhead in some way. It reminded her of the resentment she felt of being trapped in Oz. And then Dorothy had heard about her father’s stories when she had returned. He dramatized her story, skipped over important things, including her death and revival, and then published it and sold it. She was furious how her life was marginalized into a book that her father turned a profit from.

When she had trapped herself with the Wicked Witch in the bottle, she had a lot of time to think. The Men of Letters had tried to defend her father’s actions, stating that when wrote the story, it was to leave them her legacy. They convinced him to publish it so they could have some of the funds to keep the Men of Letters going. Her father was long dead when she returned from Oz, so she only had the words of Legacies to trust.

Her release from the bottle by the new generation of Men of Letters brought her comfort, especially in the form of Charlie, but it also brought her pain. While she never liked that the book was a poor biography of her time in Oz, it hurt to know that her father’s books were now standard reading. And on top of that, while she wasn’t exactly forgotten, her existence had been practically erased except as a character in the book. She also found out that her parent had more children after she was trapped in Oz. She had brothers who were remembered. As much as part of her wanted to stay after the Wicked Witch was killed, she knew there was no home for her.

Charlie had explained to her how the book was taught in schools as an American Allegory. She enjoyed watching Charlie’s face light up as she explained the how the yellow brick road was taught to represent the gold standard, and that the Emerald City of Oz was the false hope of paper money. It made her even happier though when Charlie saw the yellow brick road for the first time.

“Holy Cow, it’s actually yellow!” Charlie squatted down and touched the road. “Why is it yellow? Do you know how they made it?”

Charlie’s enthusiasm was contagious. “Actually, I do Red.” Dorothy held her hand down to the shorter woman to help her stand. “Look over here.” She pulled Charlie over to some bushes. “This is Mahonia. Or, a plant extremely like the one back on Earth. The roots are used to make yellow dye.”

“So, they purposely dyed the bricks?”

“Nope. Apparently, they wanted them to be green, since all roads lead to the Emerald City.” Dorothy pulled her knife out from her belt and crouched down next to the bush. “The sap that seeps out from the roots is so strong,” She started digging next to the base of the bush to expose the soil. She scooped some out on her blade and pulled it out for Charlie to see, “that it stains the soil all round it a golden brown.”

Charlie hesitantly went to reach for the soil. She stopped and looked at Dorothy to get permission before picking up a clump. “This could almost be confused for fool’s gold at a very far distance.”

Dorothy chuckled. “Perhaps. What’s pretty neat about it, is that when it goes through the brick making process, it turns into that color.” She pointed at the yellow brick road. “No matter what they tried to do, even adding straight blue dye to the mix, the color always turned to that shade of yellow.”

“Always?”

“Always.” Dorothy smiled as Charlie looked at the soil in her hand, fascinated. “There’s a lot that my father couldn’t put in the book because he wasn’t here to learn about it.”

“Really? Like what?”

“You know we didn’t actually fall asleep in the poppy field, right?”

“Did you get high?” Charlie giggled.

“Only the first time I messed up making the potion we use against some of the troops here.”

Charlie’s eyes widened in surprise. “You weaponized poppies?”

“When you’re a rebel force without constant funding, you learn to make some extraordinary things.” Dorothy paused and bit her bottom lip with concern. “You sure you still want in Red?”

“You think improvisation is going to scare me away?” Charlie unceremoniously dropped the soil clump on the ground before moving closer to Dorothy. “My life has been one big spontaneous movement after another.”

Before she could stop herself, Dorothy wrapped her arms in a loose embrace around Charlie’s neck. The move was intimate, but it felt correct. “You’re telling me this is a breath of fresh air then?”

Charlie looked from left to right at the arms holding her. “It’s more like an adventure that I’m willing to take, than one I’ve been forced into.” She wrapped arms around Dorothy’s waist, completing their entanglement. “You still want me here, right?”

Dorothy nodded. “I’ve never been afraid, but you’ve given me courage. I’ve known what I’m fighting for, but now I’ve got someone to fight with. I believe in the battle more than I ever have before, Red.”

They moved in unison, their lips coming together sweetly, as time around them quietly slowed.

There may have been moments that Dorothy felt the regret for bringing Charlie to Oz, but one thing was stunningly clear. With her at Dorothy’s side, the path to Oz’s future finally started to take shape.


End file.
